Austin is a ghost town. 6th Street is empty on this Saturday mid-morning. Only a few homeless men are slumbering on the street corner at Trinity.
   I saw a man, woman, and their son strolling the north side of the street. Probably tourists.    

  The minute Chris and I got there, an alarm began sounding off. Must have been one of the cars in the parking garage on San Antonio Street. The reverberating, uneven noise of muted sirens pulsed throughout Republic Square Park and eerily reminded me of the sirens from The Diary of Anne Frank.
    Neither the usual folk music, nor Texas Coffee Traders coffee was available. Luckily, our pastry vendor Cake and Spoon had a walnut/date scone for us.  After getting a fat bag of spinach from our regular guy,  we left for home, sufficiently creeped out.

    The dream I remember is Carol sleeping on the couch, Abigail hovering, Gustav in a straight back chair staring out of a farmhouse window.
    Pressing his shoulders, I reassured Gustav it would be alright as my Uber arrived.
 

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   I believe it's the perfect time to Stick it to the Man. We'll get even by hitting him where it hurts most- - in the power. 


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    Humans have been trying to channel the forces of nature, and now it's gotten out of control. There are more disasters coming, but ones we have been anticipating for awhile. So, they will not come as a surprise.


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   We're like giant kids sowing terror on the playground. Slugging away at each other and knocking shit over until we are sent  to our rooms by God.
    God is probably thinking,  If I let this go on too long they're headed for extinction; then I won't have anybody to play with. They just need a chance to cool off and repent . . . before I throw some of the little fuckers into the fires of hell as examples.
    Jesus! I'm justified, don't you think? Just look what they've done to the beautiful planet I gifted them.
    Ingrates!
​    People suffering and innocents killed. What's that all about? 
    For this I gave them a brain? So they could overrun the planet with greed and carelessness. Humans have not been good stewards of the Earth. Bad humans! I should have left dogs in charge.


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                I've seen the essence of God in my meditation.


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  What else can I call it but anxiety. With all the uninsured information around here, I feel like I'm flying free but with no place to land. Or maybe it's the other way around. Sequestered, and no place to take off to.
    I find myself thinking about all kinds of things. Mainly, who or what is responsible for the Covid-19 outbreak! I want to blame someone or something.
    I started with the Chinese, and moved on to the Russians--the usual boogeymen. They must have been in cahoots with others. Could we have had a hand in it? And what are the politicians doing in our absence?

     Or is it that just my Trump induced paranoia with his penchant for scapegoating?
   
     I feel that our way of life is evaporating. I think, and say, that the world has suffered a stroke because every part of society has seized up; if we're not careful we'll start to atrophy.
    As a stroke survivor, I can tell you the things we need to do if we want to survive. First, attend to your heartbreak. There is devastating shock, great fear, loss, disappointment, sadness and denial all around the world from this ongoing event. Everyone is on unsure footing.
    For the time being, hunker down. Don't stick your head out until you feel confident the coast is clear. Hay moros en la costa? Social distance and fortify yourself with vitamins, herbs and wholesome foods, scrubbed hands, meditation and prayer, just in case.
   As soon as you are ready, get therapy. Talk to your support team, friends and family, in order to overcome the trauma. There are plenty of professionals out there who will be eager to help during this crisis for cheap.
   When the dust settles a bit, consider job training and support groups that help you adjust to the new reality and a changed economy. Find out what it's going to look like and how you fit in. There will be new opportunities. 
    For us older folks, we can provide an experienced, reassuring hand that can guide us through. Provided we have not lost all credibility with younger generations due to our inaction on more existential threats such as climate change and opioids.  
    Last of all, be open to help whatever form it takes. 

​​    We're in this together, is not just not just a slogan. We, as Americans and global citizens, have no choice but to get our shit  together fast, or else the great democratic experiment as we've known it is over. Our "great, spectacular and wonderful" society will be doomed to end up in the dustbin of history.
    I think that the Grim Reaper is licking his chops and preparing another harvest. Please take precautions and follow the advice of public safety by self isolating.
    There's got to be a way for human beings to avoid injury or death. We each need to demonstrate, as President Harry Truman wrote in 1945, the fortitude, resourcefulness and calm judgment necessary to carry out the task.

   Wouldn't you agree that these times are pretty eerie, like the sci-fi or horror flicks back in the day. I recall scenes of vast, empty spaces--settings for misspent opportunities-- especially on Star Trek and twilight Zone. Space helped create suspense. The good ones had memorable monsters and heroes, and the bad ones were at least funny.
   I don't know what to think about our latest Monster. The real one decorated with roses. Our own little parasite.  The world doesn't know what hit us! Though some were better prepared than others, mainly Mormons and other dooms day sects. Not to mention people who could read the writing on the wall.
    Being an English major during the late 70's, there are pieces of literature and cinema that come to mind as I reflect on the earth's current situation.           
     The Masque of Red Death, one of Edgar Allan Poe's greatest hits, is a story where death shows up as the uninvited Carnival guest at the prince's highly fortified and secure castle. The prince and his royal court were deceiving themselves into thinking that entitlement would save them from the Black Plague.  
    Another piece of literature I find fitting for the times is Gabriel Garcia Marquez's, Love in the Time of Cholera.